Affinity Designer User Survey

Passinwind

Passinwind

Well-known member
I just finished filling mine out and would like to encourage any fellow travelers to ask for better compatibility with Adobe Illustrator as far as layer ordering in the export to PDF function. Let's get this to where Tayda stops discouraging use of AD for UV print jobs.

That is all... ;)
 
I wouldn't hold your breath, they have open requests for (basic) functionality that have been languishing on the support forums for years. I think of AD as a platform that gets you 95% of the way there, then you either need to trick it into doing the rest or it's an hours long process for what should be automated.

And they already got your money...

EDIT: What issues are you having specifically? Most of the issues Tayda has with AD is that folks aren't following the proper setup procedure. If you set things properly and prep your file, you shouldn't run into any issues.
 
Robert said:
Absolutely. Where is this user survey?
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In email to those of us who own it. ;)

benny_profane said:
I wouldn't hold your breath, they have open requests for (basic) functionality that have been languishing on the support forums for years. I think of AD as a platform that gets you 95% of the way there, then you either need to trick it into doing the rest or it's an hours long process for what should be automated.

And they already got your money...

EDIT: What issues are you having specifically? Most of the issues Tayda has with AD is that folks aren't following the proper setup procedure. If you set things properly and prep your file, you shouldn't run into any issues.
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The layers export to PDF backwards relative to Illustrator and the folks at Tayda insist that they don't want to fix it on their end. I can defintely make it work but it screws with my workflow. In any case it's no longer a problem for me, I just get my prints done locally with someone who is hungrier. :cool:
 
Passinwind said:
The layers export to PDF backwards relative to Illustrator and the folks at Tayda insist that they don't want to fix it on their end.
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Really? I always export mine in the same order as indicated for Illustrator and have never had a problem.

Also, I never received a user survey from Affinity.
 
benny_profane said:
Really? I always export mine in the same order as indicated for Illustrator and have never had a problem.

Also, I never received a user survey from Affinity.
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The survey just got to me this morning, maybe yours will soon.

I can easily swap layer orders before I export but then it displays wrong in Adobe Acrobat, I guess I could just ignore that and try submitting one that way. But since Amplfyfun sends an actual proof before printing and offers extensive feedback I'm inclined to just stick with them.
 
Absolutely no problem with that. I’m just confused because I don’t think I’ve experienced the same issue you’re discussing. What operating system do you use? I know they’ve had inconsistencies with platforms in the past.
 
I've purchased all three applications for Mac and Windows, no survey here either.

All I want is for all of the dang users settings to be retained after closing/reopening the program.... :ROFLMAO:
(Threshold for selection tool, rotate by origin, etc)

I mean why in the heck would you ever rotate by anything but the origin? And if you wanted to, just make that point the origin.
 
benny_profane said:
Absolutely no problem with that. I’m just confused because I don’t think I’ve experienced the same issue you’re discussing. What operating system do you use? I know they’ve had inconsistencies with platforms in the past.
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I'm on a fairly old Win 10 desktop. And ironically, the last job I had Tayda do was made in Illustrator and one or both of us screwed it up fairly substantially. Spencer never would've printed it in that state but I totally get that Hugo is swamped and they can only do so much in a day. I'll give it another try eventually but right now I'm using Gorva boxes for my recurring builds anyway, so it's kind of moot.

Several years ago I ran into some shade from another, much more upscale custom enclosure builder over UV printing. They insisted that I needed to use a white box, only use Illustator, and so on. I jumped through the hoops and they made me a $375 coaster; the printing was only one of three terminal problems. I was given a do-over that came out fine but managed to use the first one for a test build anyway. Good times, or sumthin'. :ROFLMAO:

I'm wondering if the survey might have just been for iPad users. I have Affinity Photo in my pad and it could use a bit of love on their end too, in all honesty.
 
I had an issue with one of the printing companies a few years ago... When placing the order there was a drop down box for White or Black ink, I chose white.

My enclosures arrived, dark purple with black ink... the printing was basically invisible.

When I contacted them they blamed me... They said they don't go by the color you select at checkout and that I should have made the artwork a different color and indicated on the design that I wanted white. :rolleyes:

They did eventually fix the issue though.
 
Robert said:
All I want is for all of the dang users settings to be retained after closing/reopening the program.... :ROFLMAO:
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I would have a fucking stroke, jesus. Whatever bullshit amount adobe cc is per month finally doesn't seem so bad.

If the survey gets a public URL I'll fill it out.
 
I've gotten so used to Affinity that it would seriously hurt to go back to Adobe now...

It's like it's almost perfect..... just not quite. I fired up an InDesign trial a few months ago and cringed the entire time. I forgot just how bad it was.

Affinity is so much faster to load and operate... and some of the functionality works better for me.... but there are those quirky little things that make you wonder how they've been ignored for so long.
 
Honestly how frustrated I am with Adobe (their ecosystem and annoyances about their software) is really why I judge Affinity so harshly. They're SO close. Adobe products are dinosaurs and they're too expensive and are just asking to be knocked down a peg. If Affinity products were 5% better I'd switch but that is a heavy 5%.
 
I'd use Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign so I'd need the full suite (the three apps alone cost more than the suite)...

I suppose $55 per month really isn't all that bad, but what if I don't use it at all for a month or two? (cue the build doc jokes!)

In fact, I only use Illustrator when I need to draw up a new drill template or wiring diagram, so several months could pass that I don't touch it at all.

It just feels like throwing cash down the drain.... I could put that towards the next big Tube Screamer.
 
Robert said:
I'd use Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign so I'd need the full suite (the three apps alone cost more than the suite)...

I suppose $55 per month really isn't all that bad, but what if I don't use it at all for a month or two? (cue the build doc jokes!)

In fact, I only use Illustrator when I need to draw up a new drill template or wiring diagram, so several months could pass that I don't touch it at all.

It just feels like throwing cash down the drain.... I could put that towards the next big Tube Screamer.
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That's exactly why I wish Affinity was better. $55/month for someone who uses Adobe software because they know how to design stuff just well enough to not hire a designer is a steep cost. I pay for my subscription with paid work but that honestly accounts for maybe 1/3 of the time I spend using their software, and without the paid work there's no way I'd justify the cost. But at the same time, I couldn't do that paid work with any other software. But for the graphics I produce for side projects I could completely justify the cost of Affinity.
 
To be fair though, I think the layering issue is specific to Tayda's UV printing service.

I've worked with a few different UV printing services over the years and none of them had any requirements beyond "must be in vector format" ...

And even that would slide sometimes...


But they didn't do one-offs for $4, so there's that. Also I don't do a lot of artwork, so you're actually using more of the functionality than I am, and probably see more problems than I encounter.
 
I sure do like the pen tool better in Affinity Designer though... Every time I try to use it in Illustrator I want to smash my mouse into pieces.
 
I didn't get a survey request either but sure would like one. There's plenty about Affinity Designer that I think would make it a lot better. That said, there's an awful lot to like about it at the same time.

Certainly cheaper than Adobe Illustrator for sure. I just can't see paying over $50 a month for Adobe. I don't use it enough to justify that cost. Affinity prices their stuff quite fairly and, even if they did the whole subscription model, they could still undercut Adobe by only charging $100/yr. I'd go for that no problem.

It's not quite as powerful as Adobe Illustrator but in some ways it's actually easier to use. There's some things I miss about Illustrator for sure but the sheer ease of use of Affinity Illustrator makes up for it.

I do hate the fact that Tayda only uses Illustrator. Would be nice for them to adopt Affinity Designer but...oh well. Amplify Fun allows for Affinity Designer so I pretty much just go through them now. Much easier to deal with and with great results.
 
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